Bamboo - economic value and climate impact
Bamboo is a herbaceous plant with a very special stem structure, belonging to the family Hoa Thao. Bamboo is closely associated with the people and villages of Vietnam not only in the cultural and spiritual life but also widely used in daily life, production and even fighting against enemies. Bamboo has many important economic values and also protects the environment.
According to research by scientists, bamboo is the fastest growing plant species compared to other species in the world. Bamboo has the ability to regenerate itself, after harvesting mature plants, young shoots grow by themselves, developing into the next generation without needing to be replanted. Normally, when harvesting, only 30% of the plants/bushes/year are cut, so the bamboo planting area always maintains its coverage density.
Bamboo grows everywhere, from dry places on mountains to river banks, and can even be grown on acid sulfate soil and saline soil. According to statistics, there are over 1,000 different species in the world and the bamboo area is up to 14 million hectares. Vietnam currently has 30 genera and 216 species of bamboo, including some highly economic species such as luong, long, truc sao, lo o, buong, tam vong, tre gai... distributed in most provinces across the country. What is special is that all species have the characteristics of having strong roots, spreading widely, and maturing quickly.
It can be affirmed that bamboo is a multi-purpose tree: It is a tree that provides raw materials for food, medicine, fuel and even construction materials, etc. Since ancient times, Vietnamese people have used fresh bamboo shoots and dried bamboo shoots to prepare many different dishes and are associated with most people from the lowlands to the highlands in their daily meals. Bamboo stems are also used to prepare other very unique dishes with different flavors such as bamboo tube rice, bamboo tube pickles, bamboo tube sour meat, bamboo tube fish, bamboo tube tea, etc. Not only food, bamboo is also a source of medicinal materials, the main raw material of the handicraft and fine arts industry. Since ancient times, Vietnamese people have used bamboo to produce many household and production items such as: beds, cots, cabinets, shelves, tables and chairs, baskets, trays, ... to small items such as: fans, chopsticks, bamboo toothpicks, ...
Nowadays, people are turning to friendly materials, green materials, bamboo is really on the rise. Many handicrafts and fine arts products are produced by craft villages and sold to the market. Not only sold domestically but also exported to the world. According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2023, Vietnam exported bamboo products worth about 733 million USD, of which the main export markets include the EU, Japan, the United States, China... Bamboo is a source of raw materials for over 600 rattan and bamboo weaving villages, playing an important role in farmers' livelihoods, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction. Bamboo is widely used, not only as raw materials for handicraft production but also as raw materials for high-quality fabrics and paper production.
Bamboo is also a green material in the construction industry. Not only that, scientists have proven that bamboo construction materials have mechanical strength beyond expectations. Some bamboo species have compressive strength equivalent to concrete and a strength-to-weight ratio even higher than steel. With new technology, bamboo has been treated against termites (by carbonization technology), mold, improving durability and strength. Moreover, with block pressing technology, bamboo construction materials can replace wood with many advantages and are friendly to the environment and human health.
With the current native bamboo area (1.6 million hectares equivalent to 6.5 billion trees), the block processing industry and handicrafts, bamboo not only serves the domestic market but Vietnam can also export billions of dollars annually.
Bamboo also plays a role in preventing erosion, landslides and climate change. Bamboo has a root system that grows horizontally, spreading from 5 to 15 meters from the base of the tree, creating a dense and interwoven root network. At the same time, it can bridge cracks.
A bamboo can cling up to 6m3In addition, although most of the roots grow horizontally, some roots still penetrate deep into the ground to help anchor the soil on hillsides, river banks and prevent landslides. Bamboo helps maintain the topsoil, limiting erosion caused by heavy rain and surface runoff. Bamboo clumps act as a wall at the foot of mountains, along rivers to block wind, waves, hold soil, protect property and people's lives.
One great value of bamboo is in combating climate change. Bamboo has the ability to absorb CO22-3 times higher, releasing 35% more oxygen than trees of the same age. Bamboo matures after 3 years, during which time it has absorbed up to 90% of the carbon that bamboo can absorb, and by the 6th year it reaches the highest carbon absorption. Because it can be exploited early, with a 30% exploitation rate and the ability to regenerate to compensate for the harvested trees, bamboo is always at the time of absorbing CO2large. This is a superior feature compared to other trees in the role of contributing to reducing CO2.2. Therefore, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt in 2022 (COP27) affirmed: "Bamboo is an important solution to combat climate change".
Regarding the economic efficiency of bamboo cultivation, according to Dr. Nguyen Trong Nghia - founder of BWG and StaBoo (with 2 bamboo processing factories in Hoa Binh and Thanh Hoa), the cost of bamboo cultivation is low, the variety is easy to grow (except for the linden tree). After 3 - 5 years, the bamboo begins to be harvested (depending on the species and land area), the annual income per hectare can reach from 10 million VND/ha to over 50 million VND/ha (intensive, ecological cultivation).
Nghe An is a province with an area of bamboo, reed, and rattan forests of about 106,698 hectares (reserves of about 1 billion bamboo trees), ranking among the top in the country along with Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, ... and has many valuable species such as: meters, rattan, mai can, truc, ...
In addition to bamboo shoot exploitation, bamboo has brought hundreds of billions of dong to people in the Western region every year. For example, Con Cuong district has more than 3,000 hectares, harvesting about 1.5 million trees each year, bringing in tens of billions of dong in revenue. Recently, the departments and authorities have paid more attention to supporting bamboo trees, so people have paid more attention to bamboo trees in the process of planting forests, protecting and exploiting forests.
Que Phong forest has been granted FSC certification and protected and exploited sustainably. In many places in the West, people have planted trees in the hills of Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Quy Chau districts..., along the river (Anh Son) not only bringing economic efficiency but also effective in preventing landslides.
However, apart from the linden tree which is the raw material for the handicraft industry, the price is quite high and relatively stable. The remaining objects, due to the lack of new technology processing factories, have low and unstable prices. Moreover, the exploitation in recent years has been unplanned, not according to standards (natural forests) and lack of care (planted forests), so the output and quality have shown signs of decline.
To promote the outstanding characteristics of bamboo in developing forest economy and combating climate change, here are some suggestions:
Nghe An needs to identify bamboo as the main forestry tree to develop and include it in the forest economic development strategy, especially in the districts. At the same time, review the area of natural bamboo forests to have a plan for protection, planned exploitation, and forest restoration. Orient the planning of new planting areas for businesses and people to participate in intensive bamboo planting and ecological bamboo planting, in which priority is given to ecological bamboo planting methods. Select and introduce quality bamboo varieties, large biomass, high productivity, easy to exploit, transport and suitable for different microclimates, land areas (at the foot of hills, on hills, along rivers and streams...).
At the same time, select native large timber trees and understory trees to guide intercropping with bamboo in the ecological bamboo planting method. Allocate funds from the source of natural disaster prevention and control for districts to implement bamboo planting in areas at risk of landslides in mountainous areas as well as along rivers. Evaluate carbon credits for bamboo forests of all kinds to put them on the credit market to increase people's income. Encourage the development of a high-tech and clean bamboo processing industry, focusing on areas suitable for Vietnamese native bamboo. Support the formation of a bamboo value chain in the whole province.
Nghe An should add bamboo as a multi-purpose native tree and enjoy the same policies as the subjects of large timber forest planting and afforestation with native trees in the Resolution. No. 18/2021/NQ-HDND dated December 9, 2021 on promulgating regulations on a number of policies to support agricultural and rural development in Nghe An province for the period 2022 - 2025.
Propose that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development add bamboo to the list of main forestry plant species prescribed in Circular No. 22/2021/TT-BNNPTNT dated December 29, 2021 of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to encourage businesses and people to plant bamboo.
